National Signing Day Makes Me Loathe Being A Sports Fan

Let me get right out and say it. I hate National Signing Day.

I get it college football fans. Unlike pro sports teams, you don’t have the equivalent of the NFL Draft or NBA Draft or MLB “Draft”. Therefore, you’ve latched yourselves onto your equivalent of a college football draft and you’re putting all of your passion into it. I understand that. However, I just want to remind you, when you boil it down, what you’ve decided to dedicate an entire day to.

National Signing Day is nothing more than watching high school seniors say where they’ve voluntarily decided to go to college.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think 17-year-olds should have their own holiday on the sports calendar. I was once a 17-year-olds. No way on earth would I give that kid a holiday. Talk about an ego trip just waiting to get out of hand.

Do you know how many people cared about me attending the University of Oregon? Me. Just me. There was even a girl in one of my classes throughout high school who constantly wore UO gear. She didn’t care. I somehow managed to warrant my own paper banner in the very corner of the gym at our final assembly. Someone took about ten-fifteen minutes to make that and put it up. That’s how much effort people should give you to your college of choice if it isn’t the Harvards and Stanfords of the world.

No one should care this much that a high school kid got a scholarship to the University of Arizona. I got a scholarship to the University of Arizona. Where was my decision tracker on 24/7Stalkers? Where was article in the blogosphere about me turning down their offer? Quite frankly, it would’ve been nice to have an article written about me turning down a free iPad.

Do you see how all of that sounded stupid? This is the same way I see numerous recruitment “storylines” that spring up every fall and winter. Who cares…

Seriously, I get it. Having one of the best recruiting classes often translates to successful seasons in the years to come. Not all future college football players are created equal. New Mexico State, according to 24/7Stalkers, had the worst recruiting class among FBS programs this season. I reckon they aren’t going to be competing with Alabama, who ranked No.1, anytime soon. I get that.

What college football fans don’t seem to understand however is ranking a vast amount of high school football players against one another to figure out who the best recruits are is a lot like playing a hand of blackjack. There’s only so much you can ultimately bank on when it comes to winning or out. Marcus Mariota was a 2-3 star recruit who only received scholarship offers from Oregon and Memphis. Freaking Memphis! That guy ended up going on to win a Heisman. Meanwhile, Devon Blackmon was a 4-5 star recruit who was the second-highest rated player at the Athlete position and third-highest rated player in the state of California…and did squat while at Oregon.

Rankings on National Signing Day only mean so much. So why on earth are there droves of sites whose only main purpose is to deliver this kind of news? How are the decisions of a 17-year-old the bread and butter for hundreds of writers? This should, at most, take up one-two weeks of the sports calendar. Instead, thousands upon thousands of people dedicate the entire year to finding out where a 17-YEAR-OLD they have no relation to and will never meet in person and, according to the NCAA, is as much of an amateur as the people on your company’s softball team wants to go to college.

Congrats on getting a full-ride on college. I’m not trying to diss the 17-YEAR-OLDS by any means in this article. What I’m saying is the level a sports fan has to stoop to in order to care this much about, once again, A BUNCH OF 17-YEAR-OLDS is the same level as people who get tattoos of their favorite celebrities on their bodies. I’m all for calling Tom Brady the greatest quarterback of all-time but I don’t want that dude on my thigh for the rest of my life. I have my limits.

Yesterday was a day that, since I learned my lesson during my first year at UO, I have tuned out. Yesterday was a day that I simply don’t like to be a sports fan. Yesterday was a day that I wish college football fans would just take a chill pill, stop living out their fantasies vicariously through 17-year-olds they will never come in contact with for the rest of their lives, and relax. Congrats, you had a good National Signing Day. Now how about your team winning a football game with those players before you wear yourself out. You need to conserve that energy so you can harass 18-year-olds next fall when things don’t go your way.